soon transpired that if Graham wouldn't speak of his troop
commander _pro tem._, neither did he speak to him, save when occasion
required. Day after day on the march it was noted that while the senior
lieutenant of each troop rode side by side with his captain, the young
West Pointer serving with "F" was almost always at the rear of its
column of twos, where, as it transpired, Garrett had given him orders
to march and see that the men kept closed. But no complaint came from
Graham.

Now, however, as the two old chums rode away on a side scout of their
own, it might well be expected that "Coyote" would be less reticent.
The eyes of half the command had followed them appreciatively as the
detachment started, Graham and Connell in the lead, Sergeant Drum, and
his nineteen following in compact column of twos. No sooner did they
reach the outlying sentries, however, than it was noted that the young
leader looked back over his shoulder, and the next moment two troopers
detached themselves from the rest and spurred out ahead until full six
hundred yards in the lead. Then two others obliqued out to the right
and left until nearly as a great a distance on the flanks.

"Knows his biz," said the adjutant, sententiously.

"Knows nothing but what I've taught him day by day," snarled Captain
Garrett. "And I wash my hands of all responsibility for that detachment
once it's out of sight of us."

"Shut up," growled a junior. "The 'Old Man's' got ears, and he'll hear
you."

"Well, I _want_ him to hear--it's time he _did_ hear--and heed," was
the surly answer. But "Grumbly's" eyes were wisely watching the major
as he spoke, noting that the "Old Man" was busy with his binocular,
following Graham's movements up the long, gradual, northward slope. The
moment the major dropped it and turned toward the group, Captain
Garrett changed his tone. "What I'm most afraid of is his getting
lost," said he.

"You needn't be, captain," said the bearded commander, placidly. "Mr.
Graham knows this country better than we do. He spent long months here
before ever we set eyes on it."

Garrett's jaw dropped. "Then why didn't he tell me? How was I to know?"

"Principally, I fancy," drawled the adjutant, who loved to rub "Old
Grumbly's" fur the wrong way, "because you told him two weeks ago that
when you wanted advice or information on any subject from him you'd ask
it."

But while Graham had as yet won no friend in Captain Garrett, he had
found many